200 years ago, the first bathing houses were placed on the beach of Scheveningen, a coastal town near The Hague, Netherlands. They marked the start of the modern local sea-bathing culture.
However, all those years ago, Scheveningen was mainly a poor fishing village.
My family name ‘Van der Zwan’ is well-known in Scheveningen. Here, my grandfather had a fish shop and my father grew up here. The stories I heard from them sketched a completely different picture of the beach and the sea, which was full of dangers. Also, the brother of my father drowned near the fishing Pier as a child just after the war.
It was this contradiction that made me decide to delve deeper with my camera into the contemporary Scheveningen. I kept coming back to the beach, the boulevard and the pier to visualize the local bathing and beach culture.
‘Pier to Pier’ is about everything that happens on the 2,5 kilometers of beach and boulevard between the northern fishing pier and the pleasure pier of Scheveningen.
It is here, on these ‘hunting grounds’ that I like to capture the almost inexhaustible flow of day trippers in a striking way. With lots of color and flash and preferably an extra element; something recognizable or something weird.
Whether it is surprise, pleasure, endearment or indignation, I want to release emotion with the people who watch my images.
Giedo van der Zwan
I was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in September 1967. Photography has been a part of who I am and the way I see the world since the age of 12. Since the beginning of 2017 my focus has shifted completely to the street and since then it has been a complete rollercoaster as I find myself shooting with inspired street photographers in my home town and in cities all over the world, discovering the opportunities of social media, meeting new people with a shared passion and starting my own projects.Since I took up the challenge of shooting with only one lens (and mostly only one camera, a Fuji X100F or a Leica Q) I like to photograph people up close, in full colour. I use flash to add colour and contrast. I seem to like formal compositions and clean shots but I try to add an extra element that is not always in plain sight: preferably something quirky, humorous, bizarre, or anything that makes a scene special.I don't want to be invisible as photographer. I like to connect. It feels good and sometimes provides an even better chance of making the shot that I'm aiming for.
